Treasury Backs Off Requirement That Social Security Recipients, Others Take Extra Step to Get $1,200 Checks

The U.S. Treasury Department has reversed course and announced that Social Security beneficiaries and other Americans who have not filed income taxes for the past two years will not have to take any extra steps to get one-time checks of up to $1,200 under a new program designed to help the economy rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, reports USA Today . This is in response to criticism following the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) online notice that people who usually do not file taxes would need to file a simple tax return to receive one of the payments. Forty-one senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claiming that this would place "a significant burden" on retired seniors and people with disabilities. Mnuchin responded that the IRS will now use Social Security data to generate payments to Social Security recipients who did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019 as paper checks or direct deposits. "One of the reasons Treasury officials may have wanted to require a simple tax form from those who haven't paid taxes in the past two years is to make sure they are sending checks to the most up-to-date address," said American Enterprise Institute economist Kyle Pomerleau. Electronic Transactions Association CEO Jodie Kelley said the industry has offered to assist Treasury "to quickly and securely deliver stimulus money to American consumers."